A face hung over him like an angelic mask: smooth skin, deep green eyes; azure hair draped across his chest; lips slightly parted; white teeth; sharp chin; long fingers; full breasts.

"Aliza.." Ryan muttered.

"I see you're awake," a voice said to his right.

Ryan whipped his head around to see Brooke. He was about to ask why she was in the room but couldn't help bursting into laughter seeing what she was wearing.

"I can't. . . believe you actually. . . wore it!" Ryan said in between laughs.

From within a tight maid uniform stood a body like an armored tank. A figure built to take any punishment and dish it back tenfold.

Every bit of cloth straining over her toned shoulders, each strap across her thickly muscled arms digging into skin as taut and shiny as fresh snow.

Her hair obscured her face, but I could imagine its smooth perfection. Beneath those pantyhose-clad legs, calves strong enough to crush walnuts with their iron grip.

Brooke clenched her fists and gritted her teeth. "I keep my word. Although I would like to know how you scored so many points?" Brooke asked with accusation in her tone.

"Points?" Ryan asked. "Wait, we aren't in the portal realm still?"

Last thing Ryan remembered, he had been talking with that egg. "Wait, where's the egg?" Ryan asked, frantically looking around.

Brooke pursed her lips and looked to the ground. "The Duchess took it away. She said that once you awoke, I should give you the invitation to retrieve it, but you must attend a dinner with her tomorrow night."historical

Ryan furrowed his brow and asked, "How long have I been asleep?"

"A week. The Duchess originally asked for you to come after you awoke, but since you slept for too long, she came over here yesterday to invite you to an event she said she was holding tomorrow night."

Mulling over this information, Ryan didn't notice Brooke start to become increasingly uncomfortable.

"Can you stop looking at me?" Brooke demanded.

"Huh?" Ryan's head snapped up. "What are you talking about."

"You are staring right at my breasts!"

Ryan grinned. "I believe you should be calling me something based on our wager. I think it started with a D, but I can't remember the rest," Ryan said, tapping his finger on his chin.

"Perhaps you could help me remember, 'Miss I keep my word'."

Gritting her teeth, she repeated her question, "Can you stop looking at me Da.. Daddy?"

Snapping his fingers, Ryan felt a shiver run through his spine. "Lovely. I always love hearing that word."

Getting up from the bed, Ryan started to stretch, paying the maid no mind.

Now frustrated that Ryan wasn't looking at her, Brooke bit her lip and awkwardly stood by Ryan's bed.

After a few minutes of him stretching, she couldn't take it anymore and said, "Look. Can you please re-"

"No," Ryan said, interrupting her. "I will not release you."

Brooks's eyes began to moisten, having already known the answer.

His new bloodline having activated, Ryan didn't care about the tears forming in Brook's eyes.

Thinking of his bloodline, he looked inward and saw something immaculate.

While his cultivation is stored inside his core, located in his lower stomach, his bloodline is him.

Someone could come along and lock up his core or break it, but to block his bloodline, one would have to kill him.

Yoko hadn't explained how to use his bloodline, and because it wasn't a heavenly ability, he couldn't get any help there. 'I should probably experiment a bit.'

"Brooke, can you get me some coffee? I'm feeling the need for some extra energy."

Wiping away her tears, Brook headed to the coffeepot.

Focusing his energy on his blood, Ryan attempted to tap into the power to activate it.

After failing repeatedly, Ryan was about to give up before he slapped his forehead, 'I'm so stupid. Bloodline doesn't use cultivation, so why would energy activate it?'

Using his mental strength, Ryan focused on his blood again and exerted his will.

After only a second, Ryan immediately sensed a changed and recognized this feeling. It was the same feeling he got on his first day in this world when he fell into a meditative state, able to hear a thousand conversations at once.

The only difference was that he could interact with the world this time.

He could hear Brooke in the kitchen and could hear sounds from outside. But he was more interested in listening to a conversation happening next door.

"It's only two months until the Grand Prince's wedding. I can't believe he's marrying the daughter of the Frost general," his neighbor said.

"Why would the Grand Prince want Mara? She's as cold as ice, just like her mom. So he'll never be able to touch her."

Another girl started laughing. "Or he'll try to touch her, and she'll throw him across the room."

Both girls howled with laughter.

"I don't know why he's a favorite of the Grand Empress. He is a boy. Shouldn't she save her favorites for the granddaughters?"

"And to have such a big elaborate wedding. We should have been having that wedding. We should be marrying the Grand Prince. Who is this, Mara?"

The girls continued, "Did you hear they're holding the tournament before the wedding, and it's a medieval tournament inspired by the fantasy world? Who chose that style?"

"What's done is done. Ice queen Mara gets the Grand Prince since no one would dare defeat the grand prince. We paupers left in the dust. By the way, what are you going to wear?"

"Well, I was thinking about a butter gold...

===

Coming out of the meditative state, Ryan was delighted. 'This allows me to influence things in a range of 20m (~65ft), and if this ability improves, I might even be able to use it while conscious.'

'It would be like a domain in which I am the ultimate ruler.'

'I think I saw an anime like that..'

Seeing Brooke enter the room, Ryan extended his hand and took the coffee without a word of thanks. He felt pure evil.

"Can you please find and inform Zoey that I wish to speak with her in my chambers?" Ryan asked.

"Who's this Zoey?" Brooke asked, skeptical about why he would need to meet with a woman in his chambers.

"It's none of your concern, and please address me by my proper name in every sentence," Ryan said, frowning at his new servant's attitude.

"Yes, Daddy," Brooke said as she clenched her fists, bowed, and walked out of the room.

Ryan slowly rose from his bed and walked out of the room toward his dorm.

===

Grace sat alone, crying and bleeding and bruised, in a dark alley on campus.

"Nothing, I mean absolutely nothing is going right," she sobbed.

She was doing great when she first got to the Academy. She even had a session with an enhancer, a handsome enhancer.

Grace was at the top of her class, an elite. But after that session, everything has gone downhill. She couldn't focus, she lost rankings,

She had been spiraling downhill for weeks.

She must've looked like a victim leaving class. Someone had targeted her and had taken all her campus credits, leaving her bruised and battered. Now she was so weak that she could barely move.

Alone, completely discouraged, she felt like she was dying in the middle of this deserted alley.

There is no one to turn to for help. Grace was the one that was supposed to help everyone. So many people counted on her. Her village needed her. Now they weren't going to receive the necessary funds she had been sending them.

Not only that, she would have to return to her village, once a heroine, now a fallen savior.

She heard a slight shuffling sound.

'Oh great, now I'm going to be eaten alive by rats. Can it get any worse?'

A throat cleared.

She looked up. There, a shadowed face with a familiar body stood.

Of course, her rescuer had to be her greatest enemy, Ryan.